Dr Stelios Sotiriadis

C++ Foundations for

Solving Global Challenges

Who am I?

1. PROFILE

A. Professor of CS at Birkbeck, and CEO of Warestack.

Previously at UofT, visiting Prof at ND and Boston University

2. TEACHING

Computer Science, Data Engineering, and Applied Artificial

Intelligence. Prog. Director of MSc Data Science & AI

3. RESEARCH

Make computer systems and developers work faster and

better. Projects with IBM, Huawei, Autodesk and startups

Learning outcomes

1. Explain what a C++ program is

2. Use variables and input/output

3. Apply conditionals and loops to make decisions

4. Understand how code processes real-world data

5. See how software helps address global challenges

Lesson Roadmap

1. Programming and Global Challenges (5 min)

2. C++ foundations (15 min)

3. Applied global challenge example (15 min)

4. Interactive exercise (10 min)

5. Reflection and Q&A (5 min)

Programming and Global Challenges

PART 1

Interdisciplinary use case

Fake news are spreading online.

How could we verify if information is

real?

How could code help with classifying fake content?

Data

[news]

Decision

[fake/legit]

Method

[rank]

Action

[flag]

We’ll build a small version of this analysis pipeline today.

Why learn C++ as a non-CS students?

• Programming = modern literacy

• Data exists in every field

• C++ helps build tools for problem solving

• Real world data analysis and processing foundations

C++ is powering global systems

MEDICAL IMAGING

CLIMATE MODELING AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

Programming = Problem Solving

Programming is not only about writing code; it's about systematic thinking.

C++ foundations

PART 2

What is C++?

• A programming language used to build software:

▪ Runs very fast & used for high-performance systems

▪ Solves real-world problems

▪ Powers operating systems, games, real-time systems, and AI

Is chosen when performance and reliability matter.

What is a program?

A set of instructions designed to process information and solve a problem.

INPUT

User, data, systems

PROCESSING

Analytics & Decisions

OUTPUP

Files, Alerts, Graphs

What is the INPUT, PROCESSING and OUTPUT?

Given a dataset of news articles, determine which ones are most likely fake or

AI-generated

INPUT

PROCESSING

OUTPUP

INPUT

Dataset of news

articles

PROCESSING

Analyze and classify each

article content

OUTPUP

Articles most likely to

be AI-generated/fake

Your First C++ Program

#include <iostream>

int main() {

std::cout << "Fake News!";

return 0;

}

Tells C++ to include the input/output library

Every C++ program starts running from main

Prints Fake News! in the screen

This ends the program

The Path from Code to Action

WRITE CODE

Human-readable

instructions

TRANSFORM

Code to machine

language

RUN SCRIPT

Computer runs the

instructions

WRITE SOURCE CODE

COMPILE

EXECUTE

C++ Compiler

A C++ compiler is a program that translates your human-written code into machine code

so the computer can run it.

Compile

Ah, I now

understand

My file

code

Compile the source

code

(hello.cpp)

Into machine code

(hello)

Executable with

machine code

Run the executable file

Observe the output

Storing data for analysis

• We store data into variables and assign

them a data type.

int age = 22;

string name = “Fatima”;

variable

Integer

Text

type

Data take memory space

Why assign a data type?

Computers need to know how much "space" (memory) to reserve.

32 bytes

4 bytes

16 bytes

Text: Stelios

Number: 5.000.000

pi (3.14…) ~20 digits

Exploring the fake news dataset

id title read_length_min ai_gen_score flagged_fake

101 Flood hits coastal city overnight 2.5 0.76 true

int

* Integer numbers

double

* Decimal points (floats) numbers

string

* Contains letters + numbers

double

* Decimal points (floats) numbers

bool

* True or False data

Group quiz: What are the data labels and types?

city country temperature_c percipitation humidity wind_mph date_time weather raining

Doha Qatar 27 0.00 0.47 6 Sunday, 13:00 Sunny false

STRING

INT DOUBLE DOUBLE INT STRING STRING BOOL

Help me find a few!

STRING

INT

DOUBLE BOOL

What we learned by now

• What is C++?

▪ Programming language

• What is a program?

▪ A set of steps to solve a problem

• What is a compiler?

▪ A program that translates source to machine code

• What are the basics data types?

▪ int (whole), double (decimal), string (text), bool (true/false)

Break!

C++ Applied global challenges

PART 3

Fake News Analyzer → Building a simple analytics pipeline

• Programs become powerful when they react to user input.

▪ Allows for dynamic data collection in the field or from laboratory devices.

INPUT

Article score

PROCESSING

Thresholds & Rules

OUTPUP

Classification & warnings

Programming is about INPUT / OUTPUT

#include <iostream>

int main() {

double ai_score;

std::cout << "Enter AI-generation probability (0–1): ";

std::cin >> ai_score;

std::cout << "The article's AI probability is: " << ai_score;

return 0;

}

Declare variable

Output

Input

End

Start

Store in variable

Output

Quiz (Individual)

#include <iostream>

int _______() {

_______ source_trust;

_______ fact_score;

_______ << "Enter source trust score (0–100): ";

_______ >> source_trust;

_______ << "Enter fact-check score (0–100): ";

_______ >> fact_score;

_______ credibility = (source_trust * 0.6) + (fact_score * 0.4);

_______ << "Credibility score: " << credibility;

return _____;

}

main

double

std::cout

std::cin

double

std::cout

std::cin double 0

std::cout main

double

std::cout

std::cin

Fill up the spaces

int

What does this program do?

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

double a, b;

cout << "Enter two numbers: ";

cin >> a >> b;

cout << "Result: " << a / b;

return 0;

}

Asks the user to enter two numbers and display their

division on the screen.

• What is the problem with this code? Turn to the

person next to you and discuss

• What if the inputs are 5 and 0 ?

• Denominator (b) cannot be zero!

Decision Logic

• We use logic to define "rules" for our systems

• Allows the program to choose between different actions

• The foundation of automated decision support

What if the AI score is very high?

Should we warn the user?

Decision Logic

START

READ SCORE

SCORE > 0.7

WARNING! AI GENERATED

ARTICLE

ARTICLE APPEARS CREDIBLE

END

falsetrue

If an article’s “fake score” is greater than

70%, inform the user accordingly.

Example script

double ai_score;

cout << "Enter AI probability score (0–1): ";

cin >> ai_score;

if (ai_score > 0.7)

{ std::cout << "Warning: This article is likely AI-generated or fake."; }

else

{ std::cout << "This article appears credible."; }

if runs code when a condition is true.

else runs code when the condition is false.

C++ Comparison Operators

Comparison operators are used to compare two values.

They always return true or false.

Operator

Meaning

Example

Result

equal to

5 == 5

true

not equal to

5 != 3

true

greater than

7 > 3

true

less than

22 < 10

false

greater than or equal to

5 >= 5

true

less than or equal to

4 <= 3

false

Let’s fix the division

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

double a, b;

cout << "Enter two numbers: ";

cin >> a >> b;

___________

{ cout << "Error: cannot divide by zero.” }

___________

{ cout << "Result: " << a / b }

return 0;

}

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {

double a, b;

cout << "Enter two numbers: ";

cin >> a >> b;

cout << "Result: " << a / b;

return 0;

}

PATH 1?

PATH 2?

if (b == 0)

else

You might have more than two decisions

• Given an AI probability score, classify

an article according it’s ai_score.

* Assume numbers are always between 0 and 1.

LOW

0-39%

MEDIUM

40%-79%

HIGH

80%-100%

if (ai_score >= 0.8)

{ cout << "High risk ↑"; }

else if (ai_score >= 0.4)

{ cout << "Medium risk →"; }

else

{ cout << "Low risk ↓"; }

We rarely analyze just one news article

• What if we have 100s of articles?

• Repeatedly examine multiple articles and flag

those likely to be fake.

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

Analyze

Real

Analyze

Real

Analyze

Fake!

Analyze

Real

Analyze

Real

Building loops

• A loop repeats the same instructions multiple times.

* Loop runs the same code five times.

for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {

std::cout << i;

}

for → repeat code

i = 1 → start counting at 1

i <= 5 → stop after 5 times

i++ → increase by 1 each time

cout → prints the message

Scan 5 articles and check their AI-probability scores

• Use a loop to repeat instructions

for (int id = 1; id <= 5; id++) {

...

if (ai_score > 0.7)

{ ..."is likely fake.”... }

else

{ ..."seems credible.” ... }

}

for (int id = 1; id <= 5; id++) {

...

if (ai_score > 0.7)

{ ..."is likely fake.”... }

else

{ ..."seems credible.” ... }

}

More to come

soon!

Interactive exercises

PART 4

Reflection

PART 5

Discuss examples of interdisciplinary impact

• Computer science + policy

→ misinformation regulation: fake news and digital policies

• Computer science + climate science

→ environmental modelling: predict floods, heatwaves, or rising sea levels

• Computer science + healthcare

→ medical diagnostics: analyse medical images or patient data

• Computer science + business

→ risk analytics: detect fraud and manage investment risk

Key Takeaways

• Programming = problem solving

• Input → decision → output

• Loops + conditionals for real data

• Code can address real-world issues

• Example: detecting misinformation

Summarizing Teaching

Approach

• Start with real-world problem

• Build concepts step by step

• Ask questions and predict

outcomes

• Short interactive activity

• Connect to multiple

disciplines

Questions?

“Everybody should learn how to program a computer, because it

teaches you how to think”

Steve Jobs